Aftermaths
by PsychologyGeek81
Summary: Missing scene between Erin's death and the police station scene. Angsty.
1. The immediate aftermath

**Author's note: I was majorly into this series like ten years ago, and I always wondered what happened between the nail gun scene and the police station scene, but I didn't know what fic writing was back then. I recently had a huge wave of nostalgia for the series and was finally able to write this.**

The silence was deafening once the last echoes of the cries and screams had died out and the dust had settled. The realization that somebody had to make a move, get up, do something, hit Wendy harder than the impact of her hitting the floor. She didn't think that she could move, completely frozen in horror as she stared at the gruesome sight in front of her, unable to drag her eyes away. Her body was numb, each breath like shards of glass in her throat.

Kevin was the first to move, tentatively rising into a kneeling position before shoving away the plywood sheets that he and Ian were buried under. Wendy tried, unsure she could will her limbs to cooperate. She managed to slide herself across the floor, moving into a crouch before attempting to stand on her trembling legs.

As soon as she was stood, she inched her way over to Kevin, exchanging a horrified glance with him before clasping her hand over her mouth to muffle the sob that was about to escape. Wendy looked down, noticing that Ian was still lying on the floor, shaking violently as he looked on at the horrific fate which befell his girlfriend. She could see Kevin toying with the idea of trying to help him up, but silently told him not to. God, she was never going to get that yelp of pain out of her head, the last sound Erin ever made. Wendy closed her eyes as more tears leaked from them.

They both watched Ian attempt to get up, stepping backwards to give him space as he clambered to his feet, the rattling choke of his breathing filling the air. Wendy turned away, thinking suddenly of Jason. She remembered crying, screaming, doubling over and falling to the floor when she'd watched that coaster come off the tracks, she couldn't even imagine how she'd feel if something as brutal as what had just happened, happened to him right in front of her.

"We," Wendy choked out, unable to think of anything else to say but needing to break the deafening silence. "We're so sorry."

"Get out," mumbled Ian, closing his eyes and running a hand through his hair. Wendy tried to swallow the lump in her throat as she watched tears slide down his face.

"Dude," Kevin said weakly. Wendy didn't even realize his hand was on her shoulder until his voice startled her.

"I said get out!" Ian shouted, his voice wheezing and breaking as it echoed off the shelves. His hands were balled up into fists as he backed even further away from them.

"We're not just going to leave you here by yourself," Kevin argued, a softness to his tone that felt incredibly out of place when everything that had happened in the last few minutes was so harsh and raw.

Wendy felt more tears soak her cheeks, realizing that she had no idea what to do. She didn't know what to say, she hadn't even thought about how long they were all going to stay standing around a corpse until someone became calm enough to call emergency services. She felt guilty and useless, and looking at Ian just made the hole in her chest even bigger.

It felt wrong, seeing him like this. Heavy discomfort twisted in Wendy's gut, like she was intruding on someone else's private moment. Like she just happened to stumble across a body rather than having witnessed each nail pierce Erin's head, heard each sickening pop as the next one fired and watched as the blood poured from each wound. It felt strange to see someone so cynical and confident look so vulnerable. To be stood there with skin so white it looked grey and tears streaming down his face.

"Why not?" replied Ian, coughing slightly as he finished shouting. Anger lay heavy in the unstable rasp of his voice. He swallowed shakily, his throat raw and his chest tight from the sobs that refused to stop racking his body.

"This was you," he continued to scream, shaking his head as he looked over at Wendy and Kevin, their bodies blurred through the watery sting in his eyes. He pointed a trembling finger at them. "This was all your fucking fault."

"We tried to tell you," Wendy sobbed in response, making fury boil through his veins. The look on her face, like she had any right to be as upset about this as he was, made him want to pick up one of the fallen sheets of wood and hurl it at her face. She'd barely known Erin, he could probably count all the conversations they'd had before the accident on one hand. If she and Fischer hadn't turned up, they would have just finished their tasks for the night, and gone the fuck home. Erin wouldn't be on the floor dead.

"And look what good that did," he yelled back, gesturing in the direction of his girlfriends dead body. He was careful not to look, knowing that looking would send him right back down to the floor. Ian was amazed he was still standing. He could barely feel his legs, and the rest of his body was shaking aggressively, telling him to just give up. The pressure in his chest was so heavy and painful that it felt like the nails had torn through him instead.

"No," he muttered to himself, shaking his head again, which made the room spin. "None of this would have happened if you two hadn't shown up here," he continued, each word scratching like razor blades as they rose out of his throat. He glared at Wendy, pouring every ounce of anger and hurt and grief that was ripping him apart into it. She flinched. "This is on you."

The thick, strangling knot in his throat got tighter, and a blinding ache pounded through his temples. Ian winced, closing his eyes against it, not noticing his legs give out until the jarring pain of colliding with the floor shot up his back.

"Woah," exclaimed Kevin as Wendy gasped. Ian willed them not to come closer, tucking his legs against his chest as he gave up on the thought of trying to seem anywhere near okay. He rested his head on forearms as they sat on top of his knees, noticing Kevin approaching on his left.

"Don't touch me," he said feebly, unable to muster the strength to give him a sterner warning. He sounded pathetic, but he had no energy left to care.

Kevin crouched down next to him anyway, reaching out and placing a hand of his shoulder. Ian shook him off violently.

"I said don't fucking touch me!" he spat, his voice breaking into a sob, which he stifled by dropping his head against his arms again, his lungs screaming as he shakily exhaled into his sleeve, more tears dampening the fabric.

"Alright, man," Kevin said tentatively, backing off. Ian heard soft footsteps approaching, which he assumed was Wendy.

"Kevin," she said, her voice still hoarse from crying. "I'm going to go call 911."

"Ok," Kevin replied steadily, softly. "I'll stay with him."

Ian let out a pained sigh, the last thing he wanted was Kevin hanging around watching him. He just wanted to sit and grieve the loss of the future he'd imagined with the person lying dead in the corner. The only person who had ever really seen him, ever truly known him. He wanted to sit and picture how the night would have ended if Wendy and Kevin had never shown up, how they would have got in the van, grabbed some food and then gone back to his place together, and everything would have been fine. Or maybe it wouldn't have, maybe death would have targeted them, caused an accident that killed them both. He would have preferred it to happen that way. That would have been less painful than this.

"C'mon," said Kevin softly, keeping a small distance but still lurking. "Let's go wait somewhere else." Ian shook his head, refusing to look at Kevin.

"Dude, come on," Kevin continued, his voice wavering slightly for the first time since Erin's death. "You don't need to be here."

"I'm not just going to leave her here," Ian said slowly, sniffling as he turned his head to meet Kevin's gaze. Aside from the fact that he wasn't sure he could get up again even if he wanted to, the suggestion that he would just get up and walk away, leaving her body here alone was unfathomable. This was the last chance he was ever going to get to see her, and he was sure as hell going to take that last look when the coroner arrived and was getting her ready to go out in a body bag, no matter how painful. There were already so many things he was never going to get to do again. See her smile, hear her laugh, hold her, kiss her. Kevin was not taking the last time he got to see her from him too.

"Ok," said Kevin firmly, removing his hands from his pockets and preparing to sit on the floor. "Then I'm staying put too."

"Please don't," Ian replied flatly, almost whispering, running his hands through his hair. "I just want to be on my own." Kevin stopped midway through manoeuvring onto the floor, resting his hands on his bent knees.

"I don't think that's a good idea," he argued, trying not to raise his voice too loud or seem too aggressive. Kevin felt so uncomfortable. His legs, head and back ached from where the wood had fallen on him, and the sight of Erin's bloody face out of the corner of his eye made his stomach turn. He should be used to this by now, having seen three of his peers die, ending up covered in their blood, but it never got easier.

"Please," Ian whispered, almost pleading with him. "Just leave me alone."

"No," replied Kevin, without hesitating to be firm this time. He knew from his own experience with Carrie, that being left alone to sit and think about this kind of thing was the worst thing to do. It ruined him, and he didn't even see her body.

"Kevin," Ian practically snarled, lifting his head out of his hands and turning to look at Kevin with such rage in his eyes that Kevin instinctively backed up a step. "I swear to god, if you don't get the fuck away from me right now."

"Alright, alright," he said hastily, raising his arms up as he backed away. "I'll go find Wendy."

He got to the end of the aisle before he realized that they were locked in the place, Erin having let them in with her keys at the garden area, meaning that the cops and coroner wouldn't be able to get in when they arrived. He whispered a curse, turning back around towards Ian, who was still sat in a ball on the floor.

"Hey man," he began awkwardly. "I hate to ask, but have you got a key or something?" Ian didn't move. Kevin grimaced at the thought of having to retrieve the keys from Erin's apron. "We need to let the cops in when they get here."

He didn't say anything, but reached into the front pocket of his apron and launched a set of keys across the aisle. Kevin muttered a quiet thank you before picking them up and leaving, a silent, twisted laugh at the mundane necessity of it all escaping his lips, an uncomfortable reminder that the moment was over, that they were being forced back into reality.


	2. Waiting for the police

Kevin wandered through the deserted store, unable to remember which aisles they'd passed through on his way to the garden area, where he assumed Wendy had gone. He'd seen what had triggered the shelf collapse, the forklift on the aisle behind them covered in items that had fallen off shelves and allowed it to start up alone. Kevin questioned why they hadn't heard it's destruction as he tried to find signs for the garden section.

He was correct in his assumption that was where Wendy would be, as he found her sat against the green fence caging them in from the rest of the world, staring at her lap. He knew she'd been crying some more. Wendy sat up once she saw him, wiping her eyes before making her way over to him.

"They said they'll be here in ten minutes," she explained, putting the cell phone that was still in her hand, back into her messenger bag. Kevin handed her the keys he'd taken from Ian, which she shoved in the pocket of her pink zip up. She looked at him confused.

"How come you're not still in there?" she asked, sniffling as she spoke before folding her arms over her chest.

"I was given my marching orders," Kevin replied, trying to frame the sentence in a light hearted joking kind of way, but it just ended up coming out wrong. Wendy winced.

"Well, should we go back in there?" she asked, her voice cracking. Kevin could tell Wendy wasn't happy with the idea of leaving Ian alone in the store with Erin's body, but the last thing this night needed was to get any worse.

"I wouldn't," he told her, giving her a gentle warning. Wendy turned her face away from him and wailed.

"I just want it all to stop," she sobbed into her sleeve, causing Kevin to move closer and wrap his arm around her shoulder.

"I know," murmured Kevin, squeezing her arm. "Me too."

"I tried," she said, trying not to choke on her sobs. "I tried my best."

Wendy continued to cry, wondering how the hell she still had any tears left. It was too much, too many people we're dying all around her. She'd watch the life get wiped out of too many classmates, scrubbed too much of their blood of their faces. All the same questions that had swam around in her head after Lewis's death returned, leading her to question what she'd done to deserve this.

"And hey, you managed to save one person," began Kevin, trying to find a positive from what happened tonight. But she didn't want to think about positives, she just wanted to go to sleep and try to forget it had happened, to trick herself into thinking she could.

"But we're still nowhere near close to finding out who was sat behind them," argued Wendy, fear and desperation filling her words. "And one more person is dead. I don't want to watch any more people die."

"Me neither Wend," sighed Kevin, pulling her tighter against him until the sound of sirens and flashing blue lights caught their attention.

They broke apart, heading towards the same gate Erin had let them in through not even an hour earlier. The thought made Wendy shudder as she pulled the keys from her pocket, fumbling with them as she tried to figure out which one unlocked the gate. She managed to locate the correct key eventually, stepping back feebly as the police officers and coroner came inside.

"I'm Wendy Christensen, I made the call," she announced as they filed in, feeling her breath hitch as the stretcher with the body bag was wheeled through the gate. The image of the nails shooting through Erin's face flashed vividly through her mind again.

"So where's the body?" asked the coroner. Wendy closed her eyes.

"In the store," she said meekly, swallowing hard.

"By the cutting station in the timber section," Kevin added for her. The coroner thanked them before wheeling the stretcher inside. A police officer then led Wendy and Kevin out to an ambulance where they were checked over. Neither of them suffered any concussions or sprains from the falling debris.

What was probably only ten minutes felt like an hour as Wendy stared at the open gate, waiting for the coroner to emerge with the body. She wasn't sure why she couldn't pull her eyes away, why she was waiting so intently. After Lewis she'd wanted to get out of there immediately, changing out of her bloody clothes and heading straight back to her car, but this felt different. This felt more like Frankie's death, where the viciousness of it sat in her chest and settled in her bones.

As the coroner emerged, surrounded by the group of cops that went in to inspect the scene, Kevin began to lead Wendy away. He didn't want her to watch the body being loaded into the van. He was ready for the night to be over. They ended up leaning against the back door of one of the cop cars, looking around as they talked amongst themselves. Eventually one man came and approached the two of them.

"We'll need you to come down to the station and make a statement," said the officer, putting a small notepad in his pocket. Wendy and Kevin both nodded, although a suspicion nagged at the back of Kevin's mind. They hadn't had to go down to the station after Frankie's death, and he was unsure what this meant. Was it that they didn't think the death looked enough like an accident? Had they been at too many accident scenes, and were now considered suspicious? Had McKinley said something to them? Either way, it made him defensive.

"Yeah, of course," he said politely, knowing not to let his suspicions show. He didn't want to cause trouble, or upset Wendy even further.

"Are either of you fit to drive?" he asked them, trained gentleness in his voice. "Or will you be needing a ride to the station?"

"I can drive," said Wendy, her voice steady but vacant. "My car is over there." She pointed to the only car in the row. Satisfied, the police officer walked away, joining the others that were still gathered in the garden area. Kevin glanced over at Wendy.

"Are you sure you wanna drive?" he asked tentatively, watching her bite her lip.

"No," she admitted, shaking her head. "I don't know why I said that."

"It's okay, I'll drive," Kevin reassured her, placing a hand on her shoulder as the sound of muffled conversation caught his attention. He let go of Wendy, inching along the side of the car to get a better listen. He was already suspicious of why they needed to go to the police station, momentarily distracted by comforting Wendy. He ended up leaning against the fence watching Ian and a police officer walk slowly between rows of potted plants, noticing a messenger bag in the police officer's hands. He recognised it as Erin's.

"Kevin, what are you doing?" Wendy whispered from beside him.

"Nothing," he assured her, stepping away from the fence back towards the trunk of the car. If they were coming through the gate, he didn't want to be standing right there like a great big flashing reminder. Wendy quickly followed him, asking him again what he was doing.

"Trying to find out why we have to go to the police station," he said, reminding Wendy that it hadn't been necessary with Frankie. She nodded in understanding, turning around just as Ian and the officer emerged from the gate, moving to stand at the opposite side.

"Are you certain that you don't want a ride down to the station sir?" Kevin heard the officer ask. Ian shook his head.

"No it's fine," Kevin just about heard him say, trying not to look like he was eavesdropping. "I'll take my van, it's over in the staff parking lot." He gestured weakly around a corner. Kevin didn't think he would look smaller without the work apron on, but somehow he did, his arms folded over his chest and his bag hanging off his shoulder making him look like he was trying to fold in on himself. He nudged Wendy, seeing if she was eavesdropping too.

"I'm not sure that's a good idea sir," advised the police officer, his voice deep with concern. Kevin watched Ian tip his head back, eyes closed. He figured this conversation was going to be about as successful as his attempt to convince him to come away from the body.

"Look," said Ian, louder this time. "With all due respect officer, I just want to take my van." He didn't sound angry like earlier, he just sounded done, backing away from the officer and waving one arm around while he spoke. "And I know you're going to say that I'm in no fit state or whatever, but I think that's my judgement call to make." The officer sighed.

"Would you object to an officer accompanying you?" he asked.

"Yes," argued Ian. Kevin blinked, knowing that was coming. "Why is it so difficult for you to understand that I might just want to be alone right now?"

"It's not sir," said the officer, a tired expression on his face. "Now if you would just stay there for a moment, I'm going to check your request with one of my fellow officers." The officer disappeared. Ian shook his head, rolling his eyes before he caught sight of Wendy and Kevin watching.

"Hey," he called, shooting them a dark look as his eyes narrowed. "What the fuck are you two looking at?" Kevin was almost certain then, that he'd said something to the police to cast suspicion on him and Wendy. He shot back a glare.

"C'mon Wendy," he said, guiding her away from the car by her shoulder. "Let's get down to the station." Wendy was visibly shaken when they got in her car. Kevin sighed, tiredness hitting him like a ton of bricks. He blinked it away, knowing that giving in to it was pointless. He put the key in the ignition and prepared to drive, knowing that they were in for a long night.


End file.
